The PDP National Campaign Council for Ondo Governorship Election,
condemns the repeated violent attacks by agents of Governor Rotimi
Akeredolu, against our candidate, Eyitayo Jegede and innocent citizens
of Ondo state, following the irreversible consensus by the Ondo people
to vote in our candidate, come next Saturday.
The PDP campaign however wants Governor Akeredolu and his APC to know
that their recourse to political terrorism, brigandage and banditry
against Eyitayo Jegede and the Ondo people, such as witnessed in Owo and
Ipele on Tuesday, cannot save them, as no body had ever subdued the Ondo
people on any score.
Governor Akeredolu and the APC ought to have known that declaring the
Ondo people as enemy for life; unleashing their agents of violence
against them and making attempts at the life of their preferred
candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, cannot cow the people, but rather strengthen
their collective resolve ahead of the election.
We know that this resort to violence is a ploy by Governor Akeredolu and
the APC to inject crisis, overheat the polity and create tension in the
state with a view to truncate the electoral process and push for a state
of emergency, having realized that they cannot stand in a free, fair and
credible election.
Already, the Ondo people are aware of the characters being used by
Governor Akeredolu and the APC in this ignoble venture, including the
self-confessed APC militia, Isaac Kekemeke and we caution them to desist
from such or be ready to face the legitimate response of the people.
Moreover, we know that Governor Akeredolu and the APC are having
sleepless nights because of Eyitayo Jegede’s soaring rating and
particularly the warm reception being accorded to him by leaders and
groups across the state.
This informed the deadly attack on our candidate in Oba Akoko, where he
was received by the highly revered Oloba of Oba, Oba Nathaniel Adegoroye
and now at Ipele, where leaders and citizens had pitched their tents
with him ahead of the election.
Our campaign urges Governor Akeredolu to stop behaving like the biblical
Saul, who, after his rejection, was consumed by envy and bitterness to
seek the life of his preferred successor, David.
Such desperation for office, despite being rejected, avails nothing
except further rejection as being witnessed between Governor Akeredolu
and Ondo people, including key members of the APC who are displeased
with this recourse to violence.
Our campaign calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to counsel Governor
Akeredolu to stop overheating the polity because of his desperation to
hold on to office.
We also call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately pull in
characters like Kekemeke and other agents of violence being used by the
APC to unleash mayhem on the people.
Governor Akeredolu should also advise himself and come to terms with the
fact that the people of Ondo state have made up their minds to replace
him with Eyitayo Jegede and no amount of violence can change that
resolve.
